Trump passport policy discriminates against transgender people, judge rules

[Jessica_Rose]

Trump passport policy discriminates against transgender people, judge rules

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-passport-policy-discriminates-against-transgender-people-judge-rules/ar-AA1DiWVR?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=0c906350db1b4b28f4a63a2b7ca0bdbb&ei=97

Story by Nate Raymond (21 April 2025)

BOSTON (Reuters) -A federal judge held on Friday that the Trump administration's policy of refusing to issue passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans that reflect their gender identities is likely unconstitutional, but she declined to block it nationwide.

U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston issued a preliminary injunction that stopped the enforcement of the policy against six of the seven transgender and nonbinary people who sued to challenge the policy adopted by the U.S. Department of State at Republican President Donald Trump's direction.

Kobick said the passport policy and a related executive order signed by Trump that directed the change discriminated on the basis of sex and sprang from an "animus" toward transgender Americans that violated the equal protection principles safeguarded by the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment.

"The Executive Order and Passport Policy are based on irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans and therefore offend our Nation's constitutional commitment to equal protection for all Americans," Kobick wrote.

Although Kobick ordered the State Department to allow six plaintiffs to change their sex designations on their passports or have them listed as "X," she said they had not explained why they were entitled to an order blocking the policy nationally.

[Tig58072]

The intent of the policy is to discriminate.

[KathyLauren]

I guess this ruling is better than nothing, but it looks like the judge wimped out at the last second.  You know the administration is going to ignore the ruling anyway, so she might as well have made it a big ruling rather than a little one.  Where are the judges with backbone?

[BlueJaye]

So, what is the next step?